


The search for love

by not4u2no2



Category: Altered Carbon (TV)
Genre: F/M, Love, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-24 22:11:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13820481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not4u2no2/pseuds/not4u2no2
Summary: Kristin and Kovach are both looking and trying to regain their loved ones.  Kristin wants to be held by Elias once more and Takeshi needs to locate his other half Quellcrist.  However, in this search for their respective partners, are they leaving each other behind?  Are they making the right choice?  Are they searching for something that has already been attained?A/N:  Occurs immediately after the end of S1.





	1. Resleeving

_Monologue Takeshi Kovacs:_

_“We learn that moving forward is just a fact of life.  One moves forward or gets left behind because the world is unforgivingly relentless to those stuck in the past.  Try as they might with herculean strength to stop or slow change, they ultimately will be crushed by it in the end.  The present is ever ephemeral and change is the only constant.  Accept it and it will be your servant.  Resist it, then it’ll be your executioner.”_

* * *

 

Kovach wandered the dark and dismal trash filled streets in the rain.  Although ever aware of his surroundings for signs of danger, he paid little heed to the hustle and bustle about him.  People were just trying to make a living, and trying to survive.

Survive.

He did plenty of that already, even as a CTAC officer then as an Envoy.  Being a freaking target was a fact of life.  Elias Ryker, his current sleeve also has a big ass bull’s eye on him too.  Go figure.  He was trained to go from sleeve to sleeve as a CTAC officer with was sort of immune to personality frag when transferring from body to body.  Personality frag occurred over time when transporting from body to body each being different.  Kovach however was training how to deal with it as CTAC, also it did help that he needlecasted into a SET of possible bodies which lessened the frag to a large degree. 

Outwardly he seemed to wander, he wasn’t lost.   He still was on mission, to return Ryker’s sleeve and allow Elias Ryker to have his life back with his partner and lover Kristin Ortega.

It was hard to part with her since he had oddly grown attached to her as good friend and colleague, but when you live long enough it becomes wrote. 

It was time for him to move forward.  He entered into the re-sleeving facility dripping wet in his black trench coat but he didn’t care.  Up to the top floor of the white almost sterile facility and to the receptionist.  He was a synth or robot who turned to smile at him rather coldly but it was how they were programmed.

“Hello, Mr. Kovach,” He greeted in a robotic voice.  “I apologize but the sleeve we retrieved from Fight Drome had some underling nerve damage and we still need an hour or two to fix it.”

Kovach hated waiting and just replied with little emotion.  “OK.”  He waited this long already and what was a couple more hours.  “Let me know as soon as my sleeve is ready,” he seriously demanded.

The synth who went by Ted on his lapel motioned to the waiting area, “Please have a seat Mr. Kovach.  For a client of your distinction, we have the finest in VR entertainment….”

Kovach hated VR and just dismissively waved at him to cut him off then just took a seat farthest away from him and anyone else even thought he was the only one in the waiting area.

He leaned his head against a wall with a glass walled view of the white tiled hallway in front of him.  He also could see the synth sitting quite still at his desk.  He just strategically did that so no one got the drop on him.  There is he propped his feet up on the chairs in front of him and closed his eyes to mediated.  Seconds seemed like hours.

At least he’d get his old Envoy body back.  This Ryker sleeve although powerful was getting a little cumbersome with way he lumbered about.  Yes, Ryker has great strength and decent speed, but he yearned for his sleeve since it was a better mix of both, speed AND power.

With his eyes closed he now needed to devise of plan concerning how to find his lover Quellcrist Falconer.  Her stack was somewhere in the universe but killing his only lead, his sister Reileen, wasn’t the best thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.  It was the only way to stop her strangle hold on everyone’s lives, his included.

The universe was a fucking big area to search.

The possibilities that whirred through his mind were endless and went on and on until he heard someone enter the room, it was a woman noting her stride and from the sound of it low rise boots.  ALSO she didn’t come in from the hallway since he’d hear her.

It couldn’t be, Kovach thought but then of course he had gotten so accustom to her mannerisms that it was virtually impossible that it was anyone else.

“Hey stranger,” a woman with a Mexican accent greeted.  “It seems that you know how to keep a lady waiting.”

Kovach wanted to reply with something cruder and just cracked opened his eyes and did a sideways smirk then nodded slowly, “Well it does seem that way.”

He looked at her up and down, and noted that she was in her standard cop gear with blazer.  She also had a duffle bag hanging off her shoulder probably containing Ryker’s stuff for when he got his sleeve back.

Kristin then sat next to him not even asking if he wanted company and she knew better then to ask.  With Kovach it was better to take it first, ask later.  At least she had the company of a good friend. 

Kristin just expounded and teased, “Don’t flatter yourself pendejo, they're looking for Ryker’s stack now.”  She just draped her arm around Kovach and rested her head on his broad shoulder.

She closed her eyes nuzzling into him more and Kovach pretended to be annoyed by leaned his head back once more on the wall in defeat and closed his eyes too.  He took in her scent and it was almost like Stallion to him. 

There they just sat together in the embrace of silent lucidity each in totally different worlds but the same.

Kristin was looking to at least get her partner and lover back to help carry her since all the death she had seen in one life which included her entire family was just too much for one person to handle.

For Takeshi, he needed to get his search started.  He’d spend his life times and eternity if needed be to find is love once more.

For both however, they had an unsaid connection neither of them could admit nor was it acknowledged since there they sat as 2 but connected as one spirit, one mind, and maybe one soul.

* * *

 

Monologue Kristin Ortega:

_“I was taught that family was everything.  Friends come and go, even in the good times, but family will remain with you even in through the endless abyss of sorrow.  Life happens, and then shit happens and when shit happens, it takes a family to pull through maybe with a little guidance from above.  We move forward, but when we do…..   Vaya con Dios.”_

* * *

A/N:  This isn't E now, but it will be and it MAY have to deal with the magical paring of this ship.

 

 

 


	2. The Last Laugh

Normally Takeshi would be plotting and planning his next moves mentally, but with Kristin snuggled up right against him, he allowed himself to enjoy the present however fleeting.  All his thoughts for the future faded to nothingness and he just relaxed for once.  He hated to admit it, she had some powers over him she was unaware of.

Kovach was always a little uptight and somewhat cold with Kristin for multiple reasons. 

At first, he was there to do a job and also hated owing anyone anything.  He didn’t belong in the here and now and his Envoy family was gone.  The only way he could see them was in a freaking museum.  The promise of a pardon and lots of cash from Laurens Bancroft was the only thing he wanted in the beginning.  Therefore just about everyone and everything was just an obstacle.  Kristin would have been expendable too if it wasn’t for her tenaciousness.  But there was something about Kristin that grew on him on expectedly, it was her warmth of her spirit.  Not so much her innocence as she was a cop although she wasn’t as jaded as he was. 

So now came the next reason, Kristin treated him with the care of a family member day one although she covered it up really well.  She essentially also gave Kovach the respect that she gave Ryker which, knowing full well about sleeves, was a huge leap of faith that could almost be construed as not the wisest of moves.  In the end it was hard not to return it in kind.  She was good people and those were really hard to come by.

Kristin thought the wait would be short to retrieve Elias’ stack, but seconds turned to minutes and then it was almost an hour.  She was about to inquire and push it but Kovach’s sleeve wasn’t ready so she saw no point.  Besides, for some unknown force just kept her there and after 10 minutes was content to drift off into a light slumber.  Elias or more specifically his sleeve was built like a brick house but if she positioned herself correctly, she could get comfortable and that she did.  Kovach was even LESS of a talker than Elias if that was even possible but at least she could trust both completely.

Kovach knew something was up when he saw Captain Tanaka meet a lab tech in the hallway.  He could see them through the glass windows.  He read lips and this wasn’t looking good.  He could read the Captain’s lips but not the techs since his back was toward him.  The Captain looked concerned and glanced at the slumbering Kristin first then his glance darted to Kovach through the windows and then paid full attention to the animated technician who just kept pointing at his tablet to bring his attention to various items.

‘OK, how bad is it?’  Tanaka queried as calmly as he could.

‘What about your backups?’

‘Does Lieutenant Ortega know?’

The tech just shook his head vehemently and backed up but did a quick nervous glance at Kristin.

Kovach knew the suatuation was dire since the technician was clearly nervous looking like he was about to bolt.  He thought it best to nudge Kristin awake.

“Huh?”   She was slow getting her bearing and was about to talk when she saw her Captain just outside but Kovach just interjected filling her in, “Something is wrong with Elias’ stack.”

Kristin just sprang up jumping into action and strode quickly to the hall with Kovach in tow.  He just stood in the background when she confronted the two.”

“Hey Captain, what’s going on?” She inquired somewhat forcefully with a hand on her hip?

The tech who was on edge glanced at the Captain.

Captain Tanaka step forward and with a serious expressed and laid it out for her, “Ortega,…. Kristin, we need to launch a full scale investigation on this, but as of right now, Elias Ryker’s stack has been wiped hundreds of times over with military grade data wiping procedures and the technicians do not have a backup.  His sleeve was never put into the backup rotation since he was a convicted criminal at the time as per procedure.”

Kristin was shocked and angered but finally blurted out several curse words in Spanish but finally replied, “What the fuck!”  She knew she wasn’t supposed to address her superior this way, but THIS was like a stake through the heart.  “How did this happen?!”

Captain just reply calmly holding his hand up like a stop sign but addressed Kovach, “Your sister, Reileen Kawahara it seems planted a virus on the entire stack network that targeted Elias Ryker.  Had he been on backups, he still would have most likely been erased as well,”  He reached out and took the tech’s tablet and handed to Kovach with Kristin butting in to read the screen as well.

Kovach and Kristin swiped thought the screens while Tanaka just explained further, “From what I can gather at the moment, Reileen set that virus to execute when it could no longer find her in tract and uncorrupted DHF backups.  And I think the message left behind is proof.”

Kristin quickly grabbed the tablet away from Kovach looking for ANY sign that her lover’s stack and consciousness was still there but it was BLANK.  She then clicked on the notes field retrieved from the stack which was used by technicians to assist in the cataloging and storing of a stack.  Sometimes it had special handling instructions but most of the time it was blank.

She then procced to read it with Kovach peering over her shoulder. 

 

 

 

> _“Kristin Ortega,_
> 
> _I don’t know how you did it.  You turned my own brother Takeshi, who I love more than life itself against me.  I AM HIS FAMILY and you will NEVER be enough for him._
> 
> _I thought that maybe my brother just gets attached to whomever he sleeps with, but NO, he turned on ME in addition.  I am the only one that will be able to take care of him and knows what is good for him._
> 
> _I used your sleeve to see if Kovach loved you or if he was using you for a convenient lay, but he didn’t admit to anything one way or the other.  His actions however said it all.  So I planted this virus after I came back as a little insurance policy._
> 
> _If you are reading this, somehow you successfully RD’d me probably fucking Takeshi senseless to lead him along but I can still haunt and curse you from the grave.  You stole the most precious person in my life away, and now I am taking yours and on top of that your WHOLE fucking family too._
> 
> _You can have Takeshi who will use you and move on sooner rather than later.  He’ll get tired of you when your usefulness and wiles wane.  You don’t even register when compared against Quellcrist you fucking slut.  At least SHE didn’t need a bionic arm to enhance her fighting skills._
> 
> _Enjoy your cursed life times you bitch and the best part is that you can’t fucking touch me now._
> 
> _Reileen.“_

‘OH SHIT’ Kovach was still trying to wrap his head around this.  Of course he could see his sister doing this but what caught him off guard was how his own sister stated in an indirect manner how much he cared about her in a round about way.  Sleeping and having sex could mean nothing, but what Reileen pointed out was that it was MORE.  He didn’t know what to do about that.  More pressing items had to come first however, he did need to be there for Kristin.  She really did loose everyone she cared about.

Kristin just turned the world out and kept reading Reileen’s note to her but did a death stare to the tech and demanded brewing, “HOW could you allow this!?”

The tech just took another step back behind the Captain.

Tanaka just explained, “She’s OWNED this facility, I think she had more than sufficient access and motive.”

Kristin wasn’t even thinking about Kovach but more on the loss of Elias.

Finally reaching a boiling point in her angered and flabbergasted state, her right hand crushed the side the tablet into shards shattering it.  What was left clanked on the floor and before she knew it in a fit a pure rage, pounced on top of and straddled the shards and kept punching the remnants into smaller and smaller pieces with both hands.

Her right took no damage and the floor was giving, but her own blood was quickly coating her left hand.  She kept smashing the pieces into smaller ones to get back at her somehow.  She didn’t know what she was yelling, but it was a slew of cures words in Spanish.

Kovach and Tanaka pulled her up to prevent her from injuring herself more but she was determined to kill this bitch.  She broke free and she pounded the ground incessantly.  Initially, she was angry but after a minute, the tech ran away and she began to break into wails of sorrow stopping her assault on the floor.

“Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttt!  Both of you!”  She demanded screeching with tears streaming down her face never making eye contact with either of them.  “LEAVE ME … nooooooooooooooow!”

The Captain just formally stated straightening up, “I’ll be downstairs getting the investigation started”.

For Kovach however, he respected her decision and turned to leave her be.  She needed time to mourn and regroup.  In any case being in Ryker’s sleeve sure didn’t help any.  It was then the synth Ted came out and informed him, “Your sleeve is ready Mr. Kovach.  Shall we proceed?”

* * *

 

Monologue Takeshi Kovacs:

_“Someone once said that revenge is a dish best served cold.  Cold being totally heartless and spiteful.  When someone sinks that low, there is no redeeming them since they are no longer human.  They are but machines where life itself is measured only by tangible metrics and nothing more.  To them, you ARE just a number.”_


	3. Driving a hard deal

Monologue Takeshi Kovach:

_It is said that the most introverted person still touches the lives of over ten thousand people across the span of their lives.  That was before the twentieth century, but now in 2318, DHF, stacks, and persistent high speed network connectivity, we are more connected to each other than ever before.  Connections are easily in the millions before someone reaches their teens.  We are connected but no one CONNECTING.  It’s that inexplicable void and ever growing chasm in some of us which is only filled by loneliness._

* * *

 

Takeshi was face down on a padded vinyl table naked ready to have the human doctor take out his stack.  This was a massage type table where his face was cradled within a cutout for his face.  Although it was finally time since it seemed like staff here moved without any sense of urgency.  He hated waiting.  These doctors would be excellent hit men or women if it came to killing, since they killed time like a pro.

He did lament on leaving Ortega there to wallow in her misery.  Should he have stayed to comfort her?  He shook that thought off quickly.  He was former CTAC and the last Envoy.  One thing he learned again and again, DON’T get attached.

He loved Quell, she’s was killed depending if his sister Reileen was even telling the truth of not.  She could have just lied to him to buy time.  The Envoys?  Yea they were all gone too.  CTAC?  You can’t build any relationship on a foundation of lies.

The kicker?  Pulling the trigger to RD his sister.  She was family and he loved her unconditionally.  Sadly however, that was the most loving thing he could do.  He spent his entire life protecting her but she turned out of be a monster and he had to protect her from herself in the end.

Kovach sighed but at last a tech came in and he could see his feet.  Setting out various sterilized instruments to take out his stack.  It was 30 seconds later that he could see thought the walls an outline of a short, but curvy woman.  She had a standard Bay City issued gun in her holster.  Her walk was brisk and urgent.  Just by the way she walked and her gait it was Ortega.

Someone else was trying to stop her from entering but it did not deter her from yanking open the door and nudging them out of the way.

“Sólo lárgate!” She barked to both of them, “BCPD!”  She got more agitated and flashed her badge on her belt, “Ahora!  You heard me.  Police business, now leave us.  Rapido rapido!”

After they all skittered off, she mumbled underneath her breath shaking her head, “Madre Dios.”

Kovach was at an impasse for the first time.  Stating something about getting Alias’ sleeve back to her was a slap in the face.  There was no Alias to give it back to.  Saying he didn’t give a shit about her or anyone would be OK, EXCEPT for the fact that his sister waxed her entire family and lover too.  How could he not?

Ortega was acting on pure emotion and had to take a couple breaths to calm down.  With each breath she felt the tension mount.

This silent stalemate was broken when Ortega finally spoke talking to him but looking up to carefully compose what to say, “OK Kovach, hear me out.  We’ve both lost people we care about through all this.”

Kovach filled the silence not even looking up, “I’m an Envoy, it’s a fact that we invariably lose people close to us.”

Kristin began to pace not knowing what to say, her makeup was running from crying earlier she noted really didn’t care but cut in, “Stop giving me that all knowing sage shit and just left me fucking finish ok?”  She knew she was pushing hard.  “OK,” Kristin analyzed, “We have to stick together.  We’re family.”

Silence.

Kovach wondered what she was getting at and why she insisted to being around all the time.  Death ALWAYS followed in his wake.

She finally threw her hand on the air giving up, “I’m going to ask for time off from Tanaka.  In the meantime I can help you as a cop to search for Quell’s DHF signature on, off, remote or near line … wherever it may be.”

Kovach thought analytically but knew there was a reason WHY she barged in before he had a chance to resleeve, “OK, Let me get resleeved into my body and…”

Kristin cut forcefully, “No Kovach…. No.  I … I would be honored if you kept Elias’ sleeve.”

Kovach finally flipping on his back then sat up not even bothering to cover himself.  “Kristin, I’m NOT Elias.  Keeping me in this sleeve… I will only be a danger to his memory,” he warned seriously.  He barely noted he called her by her first name.

Ortega carefully reached out and held his hand and in the soft whisper of an angel, “Kov…. Takeshi, you are more similar to Elias than you know.  Please, just do this for me Tak.”

The Envoy was taken by surprise but did his best not to show it.  “Tak” was only used by the people closest to him and Kristin just proudly proclaimed it as well.  He just shook his head ever so slightly in disagreement.  “If I harm this sleeve any more, I will hurt you.”

“And if I put it in storage, I will NEVER see him again, nor will I allow anyone else to use it.  Too many memories,” Ortega reasoned.  She noted that Kovach was digesting this looking down, but oddly she noted he was staring at her chest.  Not that she minded since he was the one on full display.  Also it's not like he didn't know what she already looked like without clothes.  

To Kovach thinking became a little harder noting that Kristin’s bra under this tight navy sports shirt was a lacy half cup but the way she filled it out, it was more like an open cup.  She had some handsome assets and her areolas and tips could be made out if one looked hard enough since they were overflowing out of her cups.  Also his heightened Envoy vision to see through walls also made it easy to kind of mentally strip her which he just did.  She must have glamed up for Ryker's return.

It was then it he panned away slowly then concluded, “If *I* lose this sleeve, you will never see it again as well.”  He felt bad taking stock of her figure. Out of all the times to mentally strip her naked, it was after the permanent loss of her boyfriend. 

Kristin pleaded stroking his inner thigh nothing his member reacting ever so slightly to ogling at her breasts.  Kovach may be a killing machine, but he was a novice in love she deduced early on.  MAYBE she could use that to her advantage.  “Just for a little while.  If it doesn’t work out then you can transfer back.”

Kovach didn’t know what to do, his manhood was reacting quickly and that was the LAST thing he needed.  He just gave up and jumped off the table and turned away to get his clothing but also hide his now stiff member.  “I don’t know Ortega.”

Kristin knew she had him on the run for once but needed him to agree.  His word was his bond after all.  She then quickly flipped over a tray of surgical instruments near her and just pretended it was a mistake.  Everything clattered and strewed all over the floor.  She also knew the Takeshi would normally help her pick it up but not with a rock hard member.

“I got it, you get dressed,” Kristin faced away and went on all fours to collect all the items and tossing them back into the tray which was also on the floor.  It was now her plan to make it really hard for him to say no with her ass pointed at him and her pants taunt against her ass and sex.  She wore no underwear this time.  If Takeshi could take in the surroundings completely without assumptions he would know that.  “So come on, what will it hurt?”

Takeshi quickly pulled on his boxers but his manhood kept poking out.  If that weren’t enough, by the time he pulled on his pants his stiff member easily sprang out past his fly on his boxes and his soon to be zipped up fly on his pants.  Tucking it in was even a bigger challenge when his Envoy senses stripped her tight pants right off.  Her lips of her sex were parted and ready to take his ram.  How he wanted to rip the clothing off right now and ravage her here in this public place.  Time to put on a shirt and fast to cover up.

“Well?” Kristin pushed wagging her ass seductively but not to making it obvious.  She could feel her slit being massaged by his focused gaze.  If he stared anymore, she might wet herself she mused.

‘NOT NOW’ Takeshi told himself struggling then stuffing it in his pants.  He made it seem that he was tucking in his shirt.

Kristin noted that even tough Takeshi was partly turned away, in one of his jerky motions to tuck something in, a drop of his seed hit the ground.  She had him.

She gracefully stood up and hugged him from behind low across his chest, almost DARING to go lower to out him, “Hey, just say yes, and I’ll wait for you outside ok partner?”

He put his hands on top of hers to show affection and also she was mere inches from his stiff member barely contained within his pants.  He finally nodded, “OK, but only until we exhaust the search on earth.  I’ll do my best to keep Ryker’s sleeve out of harms way but I can’t promise anything.  If I have go off world, I need to needlecast to another sleeve.”

Ortega was grateful and although already in a hug rested her cheek on his back pulling Kovach in closer, “Thanks.  See you outside?”

That was that and while she was outside she had no idea why she used her wiles on him.  She wasn't that type of girl to flaunt her assets to get what she wanted.  Nor was she a stuck up prude like Oumou Prescott.  As least for Oumou, her untimely and meteoric demise as a lawyer made her loosen up a little.

Kovach ignored the confused technicians and left to see Ortega and wondered why he wanted to ravage Kristin so badly since he wanted Quell too.  

* * *

Monologue Kristin Ortega

_How can one say that a soul can be contained all within a DHF?  A body without its soul is nothing more than a breathing cadaver.  A soul without a body means you don’t exist in the physical universe.  Meths and grouders alike are slightly different even if being needlecasted into the same copied sleeve.  What's the difference?  SOUL with form and substance BEYOND that of a DHF._

 

* * *

 

A/N:  Continue?  This was reaching E ratings, but I can smut out a lot more.


	4. VR vs IRL

A/N;  This chap is Explicit.  Very much so (read - SMUT and a lot of it).  Don't complain it if you choose to ignore this, but if you loved it.  Gimme a shout out.

* * *

 

Monlogue Takeshi Kovach.

_In my thoughts and dreams of my love Quell, she appears to me like a ghost telling me that love isn’t finite and while those sage words may be true, what type of love was she even referrring to? Love has depth and gamut spanning from friendship, even sex, all the way to unconditional love. But even if we love one another, do we accept it? Do we even deserve it? Yet with all this, we chase it as if on a jihad._

* * *

 

 

Kristin had already been through a lot for one day and wanted to go home but Takeshi insisted on spinning up Reileen in VR but it just didn’t make sense, all her backups were corrupted with the Rawlings virus.. Kovach seemed to be grasping for straws and was hoping beyond hope that Rei would still remember what she did with Quell’s DHF backup. Again, that was also assuming she didn’t just blatantly lie to her bother.

Takeshi methodically laid down on the table and slid the lit band on his temples to be able to go into the VR world as well. Normally he would have just gone in but Ortega was hovering over him a little concerned. “I’ll be OK Ortega and I'll just be in for an hour or less.” Kovach found it odd he was comforting her, but she needed to hear that. It was more for her sake since she already lost so much. A thought did pop into his head as Takeshi added in order to stop Kristin from wallowing in despair at least for now. “Hey, can you monitor me? Rei might say something that I’d miss.” He needed her to focus on something else other than the death of Ryker which was still just hours fresh.

Kristin just nodded, “Sure Kovach.” She nodded formally as assurance, she even cracked a very slight smile.

With that Kovach touched a button on the band and second later he drifted off to what seemed like a deep deep slumber.

Kristin was about to turn away to sit as a console to monitor the situation as requested, but paused. She had an idea and talked into her watch, “Hey Hawkeye,” She said formally so that it’d wake him up.

“Yes Detective Ortega,” The robotic voice acknowledged.

She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and asked, “Can you interface this console and relay the Kovach’s VR session in progress to my Ocular Heads Up Display?”

“One moment….. Yes, I can mirror what is on the VR console directly to your Ocular HUD.” Hawkeye replied though the watch, “Would you like me to proceed?” He offered.

Kristin just hummed, “Hmmmm” with an impressed look like she didn’t know he would to that. “Go ahead,” Kristin ordered taking a delicate seat into the rolling chair next to her partner. It she struck her as odd how she considered him a partner just like Elias the day they met.

Takeski setup the VR scene to her private suite withing the cloud city aptly named “Head in the Clouds”. It would be the place she’d feel most empowered and most comfortable. Hopefully with the environment she’d be able to talk.

It didn’t take long to find her, she was huddled in a ball in the corner of her small sleeve room with all her other sleeves. There she stood and mumbled not even acknowledging him, “MONSTERS. ….. Everyone… monsters…. K … k… They want to.. kill me…. T …. t ….TAKE what I have…. “

Takeski noted she was in BAD shape shivering and convulsing, but also took or tore off all her garments.

She just grunted knocking on the glass pane if a little girl, “Must HIDE… re.. sleeve….. get to next … next ……. sleeve… GAME … Fucking monsters everywhere!…. ALL around.“ She spun around at the noise and screamed at the visitor pointing viciously at time, “M… monster! Watashi kara nigeru! W… Watashi ka .. kara nigeru!”

Kristin shook her head since Rei was really far gone, but her translator noted that she was yelling at Kovach in Japanese which translated to “Get away from me.”

Kovach just calmly approached with his hands up to show he meant her no harm soothed, “Hey Rei, it’s me Tak?”

Kristin scurried further into the corner but asked, “Tak?”

“Yea, it’s me.”

“MONSTER!” Reileen yelled back. “You… … T… T … Tra.. traitor!…. F… FAMILY first!…. Family.”

“Family first, Of course,” Takeshi agreed, taking a slow and carefully seat on the ground next to her,

“M… monsters… all … all of you!” Rei shoved him and then quickly like a mouse retreated to the corner. “Where IS she! You… you loved her .. More than… than ME. L.. love…. I love you not her!” Rei sharply point to her chest. “Brother…. Lover… brother… you… you evil…. Ass… asshole.”

Takeshi knew who she was referring to and answered, “Quellcrist isn’t here, she can’t hurt you …. I’m here for you now OK? It’ll be all right. Just you and me OK?”

“N… No… MONSTER!… You….. mor.. moron… idiot. She’s a MONSTERRRRRRR!…… Det…. Off…..” Reileen seethed glaring at him but finally spat out, “Or… Ortega! …. Detective Kristin Or…. Ortega! …. that … evil… Monster!”

Kristin flared her brows, this was gonna be good, since even Reileen knew love when she saw it or at the very least a deep personal connection, it’s just that Kovach was too stupid to recognize it or was too slow to do so. Either that or he was an idiot, but that wasn’t it since he was an Envoy that took in his surroundings quickly making no assumptions along the way.

Takeski knew Kristin was watching to he changed the topic starting clearly, “I backed up Quell before she died. Where is she backed up?”

“This is a GAME! Must get to the next Level! You… you aren’t real!” Rei shoved Takeshi and grabbed a glass sitting on a small table to hurl at him.

Takeski deflected it out of reflex although in VR, it was Rei that could be hurt and Takeski who was in control was invulnerable. “Hey STOP Rei! I know you backed Quell up now where her DHF stored?”

Rei bolted into the next room and tried to escape but the door wouldn’t open and all she did was pound on them as hard as she could and some hoped to dislodge them. “Monster… Fiend! Get away!”

Kovach sauntered into the room and sat down and let her have her fit. He had time.

After 20 minutes she finally slumped into the floor mumbling to the door, “Evil….. E… evil creatures…. Must resleeve ….. get to next level.”

Finally after a long pause, she partly turned to Takeshi, “…. You say ….. you think … about Quell. But she is far far away. N.. Never to be found.”

“Did you lie to me then?” Kovach carefully in a even tone to not set her off.

“Monster…. You fucked that s… slut …. Quell … b… but I knew w.. what was better for you….. Q… Quellcrist … you took her flower…… her pussy … then she took your cock and… and your fucking back bone. She has… has you wrapped around… that ugly slut fiend has you wrapped around her finger even AFTER her death.”

Kritin just leaned forward in her chair taking note.

It was then Takeshi found that in his mind Quellcrist slide next to him, and whispered into his ear observing the mad sister, “Love isn’t finite and therefore, it also transcends time. Tak, what we have can never be broken.”

“So where did you back up her DHF?!” Kovach reiterated more forcefully.

Finally the trembling sister put on an evil smirk, “I know what g.. good for your brother. I was better that Quell…. Even my body… do you not find it attractive? All the others were fiends, monsters and leviathans…. EVIL!” It was then she stumbled and stood to up to to face him nude.

Kovach NEVER knew that and held a straight face even though he was a little shocked this his sister wanted him sexually too. It may also be the virus but Rawlings corrupted the DHF to where the personality was affected, but not so much the data. So what Reileen was saying was based on some truth.

Ortega whistled and told the sleeping Kovach even thought he’d never hear it, “No wonder what that perro was so fucking jealous when we met. Hey Kovach, you’d better be carefully pendejo, she may true to hump you leg in VR.”

Quellcrist looked on suspiciously but confirmed, “She was extremely possessive of you Tak and they way she touched you, it was a little more than just siblings.”

Takeshi didn’t want to believe it and told her back in his mind, “NO, it can’t be.” It was kind of hard to do when Rei was slowly sauntering to him nude and jeering him, “I have a better body then Quell, admit it… I.. I stack up JUST fine with lots of …. this.” Reileen cupped her breast to also twisted somewhat clumsily to show him her backside.

Quell smirked and replied eying the scene in front of them up and down, “She is an Envoy, and she takes what she is offered. You offered to be there for her and she TOOK just fine and wanted more. Can you blame her?”

Kovach was so glad that Ortega couldn’t see nor hear his inner thought with Quellcrist. He just shooed her away.

“Where is her DHF!” Kovach yelled to keep her on track while shooting up to restrain her from performing her drunken catwalk.

“Let me go! Monster! Monster!” Rie struggled but no avail but spat out, “Why search for Quell! That Monster and slut! W.. Why! You got … fucking… … that fucking cop!… you drool all over her!”

Kristin chuckled but it was probably true.

“STOP! Where is Quell’s DHF! I’ll torture you myself if I have to!” Kovach grunted our angrily. It was a heart beat later that he realized what he said but didn’t know if he cold go through with it. He already RD’d her, how much can he do.

REGRET washed over him and he shoved her into the couch with him still towering over her pissed.

“I can’t.. can’t compete against the cop slut! I … I loaded my DHF into her sleeve….. Fucking monster.. she's a siren! GOD after I took her sleeve, I stripped her and even with her cut and bionic arm…. Her tits where.. where amazing… firm… t… tight….. fucking enormous … you love a well endowed woman.”

Kovach was about to slap her hard but she winced and turned away. Kovach was felling regret, but at the same time, Kristin was probably watching and this was more than just TMI, it was WAY more. At least Rei said it, and not him, she did have a great chest…. And a great heart behind them too.

Kristin pulled the scoop of her neck line forward and peer down at her assets mostly overflowing out of her bra, and cock her head to the side, “So you like my rack huh? They're not that big, but I guess men love to stare at em, so thanks?”

Rei just talked into the couch and stammered, “And her ass…. Fuck she’s got ass!….. her figure…. Its soo rounded that… that I knew you’d fuck her….. and fall in love with her … her righteousness holy attitude.”

“AGAIN, where is Quell’s DHF,” Kovach insisted.

“I test drive her sleeve you know that…. That cop is tight!”

Kristin flared her brows in surprise, that was rape in a sense but that express on Rei’s face of extreme jealousy was all worth it. “She’s got the more than ample…. Front and back upholstery.. but … that s… slut.. she comes like a ...a banshee! Better than ANY sleeve I have known and she flows like a fucking river if you get the right spots! She…. she’s a better street walker than a cop!…. But You fucked her… and she had you.. and I h...had to have her sleeve to see what I missed.. and…. And fuck!….. I can only offer you a multi sleeve orgy … but… you like 1 on 1 Tak!”

Tak finally gave in and yelled, “She’s a PERSON I respect and it wasn't’ about her body OK sis?!”

“I had to squeeze out several times but each was just a good if not better and her firm ass and tits… god she was so sensitive! SLUT!” Rei just kept going and finally Tak just plopped onto the opposite couch to her let go. Maybe if she said her peace, he,d get the info he desired

Meanwhile an extremely flattered Ortega looked herself up and down in a full length mirror which had to be console activated, but said to herself, “Wow I have to play with myself more often.” Her hands moved up to her breast and caressed them and to her surprise, her let out a moan of estacy. She was turned on for some reason. “And Rei? You had me for what? a couple hours, but I wake up with this body EVERY day. Envious much?”

She then pulled off her top and reveal her breasts which had mostly spilled out of her bra. Her nipped here erect and wanted to be held.

Kovach just let her diatribe continue.

Rei got more bold and jeered, “You fucked her, but she probably knows how to give great head!”

Kovach shook his head. They never did that together but as they say, never say never.

Meanwhile, Kristin was one step ahead since her optical HUD and ear piece was telling her everything in real time. She quickly mounted Tak and unsnapped his pants then unzipped his fly with the skill of a porn star. There she fished out his manhood still asleep and worked it with her tongue. She knew Elias and hence his sleeve down to every inch of skin which included his uncut manhood.

In a matter with in seconds, it was rising like a sun and to help it along she yanked his pants down a little to get his crown jewels out and tug and play with them. Finally she used her left hand to pull back the his skin on his pillar to unhood his one eyed assassin. There was NO hiding from her tongue now.

She pumped with the right hand and sucked him, tickling him right under his tip and eyed assassin was leaking tears of joy in no time.

It was OK since Kovach wouldn’t know he was getting a blow job in real life (IRL) unless he chose to leave the VR sim.

There she just kept tabs on Rei and Kovach since Rei just digressed into a “next level and monster” track and Kovach just let her but kept asking her about Quell’s DHF.

Kristin finally heard, “I bet her give a great titty fuck!… SLUT!”

Kristin obliged and Kovach need a break anyway since she was about to swallow his seed. She just purred, “YES Rei, I DO. Watch.”

With that she changed positions slightly and guided his manhood between her bra clad breast from the bottom to the top. This position was better if you had a tight bra on which she had. She also pushed her globes together right as his manhood worked smoothly between her mounds. Elias would just come in less than a minute and Tak at this rate would peak in seconds at his rate.

She slammed her breasts down slapping and punishing his jewels on impact but that just made him leak seed to which she sucked up since he was so stiff that his tip would end up on her lips with every down stroke.

On and on she want getting more and more aggressive. Kovach in IRL was about to come when all of a sudden she heard Rei say, “I bet she does great missionary but even better cowgirl! That SLUT!”

Kovach just shook his head. Sure he filled her up a lot as in modified missionary, but yea right Cowgirl?

Meanwhile Ortega who had already thrown her pants aside, grunted on top of him slapping her ass down on his manhood while face to face with him and mentioned, “Oh yea Rei, I do even better Cowgirl. I know all the positions bitch! Elias and I were trying them ALL out and I bet you don’t know any more positions since you are such a PRUDE.”

Kovach went with it since what did he have to loose now? By now Ortega was either so humiliated or laughing her ass off so hard at all of this. The bigger issue was that he had to fix it since he didn’t want Ortega to think that he wanted to bone her all the time. As nice as it was, he needed to have her space and respect.

“Re… reverse cow girl!…….” Rei stammered still rabidly jealous at the well endowed cop who stole her away from her and even Quellcrist.

Ortega paused and in a flash turned 180 on his manhood with a view of his feet and kept slamming her hips into his becoming more and more aggressive with each passing second. He crested once already with his milky seed dripping out of her and all over the table but he was backed up and Kristin new how to get ever last drop our of him. She freaking owned Alias and he was experienced but what about an inexperienced Envoy? Kovach was HERS and he may be rough and tough but now when it came to the bed.

Kristin yelled now lost in pleasure, “God I’m coming! Don’t you stop Tak…… Don’t you STOP!” She also knew his manhood was plowing her deeper and deeper and banging her cervix open wider and wider. She grinded down on him one last time and his ram made it into her most sacred inner sanctum ready to present his plentiful offering of fertile seeds to the altar.

Kovach had had enough. He needed to cool off and talk to Kristin. Sure Ortega was hot and all, but she wasn’t the slut Reileen made her out to be. With that he left the VR sim running and he exited.  Maybe some fresh air would help.

Shock and awe was what greeted him and right now his train was in the middle of leaving the station into its final destination,

His mind when into overdrive to see how to back out of this situation literally and figuratively but his body was on auto pilot and boy Ortega was effing hot and oh SHIT where did her learn that grinding move!


	5. The Bust of the Century

A/N:  Massive smut warning (whole chap).

* * *

 

_Monlogue Takeshi Kovach:_

_The desires of the flesh however ephemeral are sought by all even knowing full well that payment for our sins we bring to the alter of lust, passion and utopian bliss require the sacrifice of our soul.  It doesn’t takes our soul immediately, but demands payment in our life blood a drop at a time.  It’s a slow fade until we are but a hollow shell of the dead._

_Three are no short cuts to paradise and we are, in this damned world undeserving of it since it is we and our forbearers that created this hell hole bathe in._

* * *

Kovach resisted with all his might ready to grunt out to Ortega to stop, but this body betrayed him and all is got out was, “Orrrrrrr ……… ugggggg!”  He exploded deep inside her sacred alter, delivering his gift of seed, over and over in a never ending stream bursting down her inner temple doors with the force of a battering ram.

Kristin was herself in both ultimate pain and pleasure.  Not even Elias was his fucking hard for her.  She continued to grind down so hard, that her flood gates released all torrent of love and with that an unexpected orgasm washed over her and she flew.  Higher and higher she went with each spasm and twitch of Kovach’s manhood pumping her full of his offering.  She didn’t want this to end yelling at the top of her lungs like she was being tortured violently. 

She peaked and emitted a deafening high pitched shrill and she was so rabid for more of Kovach who looked like he was do wonders with Elias’ chiseled, muscular body.  He was already thrusting away into her and breaking her in half but she needed ALL his offering reaching down to her sack of jewels and squeezing the life blood out of them.

He almost passed out at that move but to his chagrin, he did have more and the pain brought him to new heights of pleasure, his manhood was going away but sprang to life once more since she pulled back his hood on his member in addition to the pain of being milked.

After a minute of Kovach giving everything he had to Kristin, he just lay there limp in an almost catatonic state in awe of what just happened.  It was then she jumped off of him and mumbled, “Yea Rei, watch me empty your brother like no other girl has…… as a matter of fact I’m so fucking full and I don’t need lunch.” 

Kristin deftly and hungrily cleaned his manhood since she knew she’d better not leave a trace that he came all over the place, but as luck would have it MOST of Kovach was inside her, DEEP inside her.

All was going as planed and towards the end she realized that Kovach was weakly stroking her back affectionately without a word.

‘OH SHIT!’ Kristin referenced her Ocular HUD and OH MY GOD, only Rei was there mumbling away about getting to the next screen balled up in the cover.  Kovach LEFT and she just fucked his brains out.

She sprang back locking on a totally spent Kovach in the eyes stammered in recovery, “Oh shit… Kovach.  This isn’t what it looks like!  I was helping you…… making sure your vitals….. ummmm”  She was stuck and need to get clothed immediately but that stopped then Kovach with the reflex of a striking cobra latched onto her bra to prevent her from leaving.  He was reeling her into him and his still twitching behemoth.  She grabbed his hands and pulled back in resistance shaking her head.  “Oh.. no… no … no”

Kovach with a devious smirk added to defuse this situation and maybe she’d come to him.  “Ortega…. Kristin, I agree, it’s NOT what it looks like.  You’re DEFINITELY not completely naked AND going through ALL the Karmasutra positions”

“What are you taking about?” Kristin felt herself read faced getting defensive but got it when Kovach twanged her strap of her open cup bra.  She WASN’T totally naked and she didn’t have time to go through ALL the positions since Rei only listed a couple, that prude. 

After a couple seconds she stopped resisting and allowed herself to be led ending u standing next to Kovach still prostrate on the table.  She smiled tightly and nodded, “True”

“I LOVE you ear rings… and bra,” Kovach shrugged.

“Yea,” Kristin smirked tightly holding in a laugh, “Thanks partner?”

Kovach LOVED what he saw though but that was interrupted when 2 techs wrapped on the locked door asking is everything was ok. 

“Police business!” Kristin turned to yell at the door.  “Let me concluded my investigation!”

Kovach sat up to get dressed in the meantime but was greeted mere inched from her well-endowed chest although partly turned away.  Her nipples were pert and read to be sucked and that he did but not right before he mentioned off hand, “In the middle of a BUST I see.”

The cop was taken off guard when Kovach grabbed her dove in between her pert breasts.  He was kissing and sucking them hungrily like a starved animal taken turns.  “Kovachhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” She squeaked in a low voice.  “Uggggggggggggggggg” she grunted as soon as he pulled in her left nipple then right.”

“Oh yea, bust of the century,” Kovach pulled her into him more forcefully.

“We gotta get out of here Tak,” Kristin struggled but at the same time she was so turned on.  Then she got what Kovach’s dry humor but never the less didn’t want to get caught doing this on police business.  “I’m glad you like my body Tak….but… “

“Police business,” Kovach led her to lie next to him on the table.

More banging on the locked door.

She ignored it since only another cop with her rank or higher could unlock it.  Never the less, Tak WAS skilled scooting off the table and skillfully kissing and sucking the digits on her left foot, then right.  Then it lead to kneading each leg trailing kissing slowly but surely to her intersection.  GOD he was good.

Tak knew that she needed warming up and took it slow.  She kept her legs closed the best she could.  She wasn’t shy about her body, just apprehensive about going all out in a resleeving facility but her mind changed gradually by the time Tak reached her knees.  She was go rabid for it that she finally left her legs part to display her precious jewel at the top of her arch way, she was so into her her pearl was exposed to the air slick and wet.  Her entrance still had a sheen engorged and still slick.

She had no idea what got into her  with the techs breaking the mood demanding to enter.  She finally yelled back, “5 minutes shit head or I’ll have your jobs….. ahhhhhhhhhhh”

“2” Kovach mentioned with his tongue now pressing and moving her pearl around.  She was really into it trusting her hips into him wetting herself more.  From there he sucked her pearl in and relished it taste as 3 of his finger slide into her temple unhindered.  Her walls compress on these intruders but the slickness allow them full access into her inner sanctum.  In a blur he trusted them in and out like a ram curling them like a hook to hit that spot deep inside her cave to make her reach heaven.

Kristin’s mind blanked out.  Time and place no longer mattered.  Logic and reasoning flitted away she found herself just confessing everything to her captor since she was now a slave to lust.  “Take me Tak… Yes!   Elias never did this to me…god your sooo fucking hard,….. you don’t need Stallion since you… FUCK…. Ahhhhhhhh… fuck me like a mare!  Fucking MOUNT me… Mount me!  Break me in half.”  She crested again noting that Tak was so fucking good that she came all over his face.  No matter she begged for his long hard member.

She quickly sat up and gabbed his member guiding him into missionary and begged, “please … please…..  fuck me Tak…. Take me like you took Quell”

Tak didn’t oblige since taking Kristin like Quell was more like total domination since in private, Quell fought back and Tak had to EARN her kitty.  It was her way of love or no way UNLESS of course you pinned her down, disarmed her and restrained her.  She’d never say ‘no’ but she made one earn their keep to enter to temple.  By the time that happened, he was so rabid that his battering ram exploded soon after.  Oddly Kristin was asking for him to do something only reserved for his true love.  Would he do it?

She guided knew he was resisting and yanked him into her by his manhood the rest of way to topple on top of her.  She need to convince him it seem so she yanked his pillar and with her other hand fondled his base jeering as her fingers locked encircling the top is his sack, “I have you by the BALLS Tak.  Don’t FUCK with me.”  The squeezed and now led the hapless prey into her temple for the slaughter.

Tak lost it and immediately went rough with her, he was NO ONE’S prey and sacked her hard slamming into her so hard she crested on the first thrust restrained but flying high at the same time.  Pain and pleasure blurred as did reality.  Her body came again wetting her lover to ease the pain and passage of his ram.

Kristin never knew ‘tough love’ could be like this and she just kept repeating, “Fuck me!... yea …..  harder harder harder!”

Tak was all sweaty and his thrusts were deadly taking down the cop into sweet suffering bliss.  It wasn’t long before he slammed his member deep inside her once more sowing his seed in her field.

They were finally winding down and it was Tak that wanted to apologize.  Kristin may have executed initially, but he just kept going and he definitely didn’t have the right to ravage her like that but Kristin would have none of it.

“Hey Tak?” Kristin mentioned like talking about the weather gathering her clothing “come home with me ok?  We’ll find her, together.”

“Sure Kristin,” Kovach replied presentable again in awe of how Kristin owned him sexually.

After getting presentable, she opened the door to 2 lab techs with knowing stares.  She didn’t give a shit and walked past them with Tak in tow with her head held high.

 

* * *

 

_Monlogue Kristin Ortega:_

_Our lives in this hell hole of a place filled with a filth, dirt, depravity, violence and a overarching cesspool of injustice, people tend to succumb to it, some giving in, and some thinking that more of the same will somehow free them from its confines.  No.  Violence will only yield more violence, as with everything else.  Only the opposite will drive those demons away.  It is rare to find something good and when you do, hold onto it and never let go.  It is something to be cherished and fed.  Rules need to bend for good since rules were put in place to stop humanity’s down slide into the abyss of entropy.  Therefore LOVE needs to bend, it can’t be finite and limited to just one person._

 

* * *

 

A/N:  Continue?  Anyone reading this?


	6. Window Shopping

_Monologue Kristin Ortega:_

_Hope is the life blood of our being.  Without it, we wither away and die.  Searching for something or someone is the foundation of hope.  It may seem unattainable, but with hope, we can weather any storm and last the coldest winters.  Hope is that light in the darkness which illuminates that path forward into the great and scary unknown._

* * *

 

Takeshi and Kristin worked side by side to find Quellcrist Falconer’s stack for 6 months straight searching Bay City as well as all the other inhabitable cities of earth leaving no stone unturned.

For Kristin, she no longer needed to work since Takeshi supported her with his generous payout from the Laurence Bancroft.  Also other Meths voluntarily assisted him in his endeavors as well since both of them, Takeshi and Ortega were pivotal in assisting them on side jobs when finger pointing and acrimonious disputes ensued especially among other Meths.  They were the only grounders that Meth’s could trust all due to their reputation with the Bancroft debacle.  Meth’s knew Kovach and Ortega would get the truth no matter what.

Ortega was still a cop however, but was elevated to a Senior Detective only loosely reporting to Captain Tanaka.  For him it was a win win since Ortega got the Meths to fall in line where they were subject to the same laws as the grounders.  Ortega with her status as a lead Bay City Detective gave her pull when visiting other cities.  She was able to access things the not even Meths had and even if they did, they had to pull favors which took time.

Kristin moved forward with the task at hand giving everything she had.  It made Tak happy, and that was all that mattered to her.  She knew where his heart was though at all times, it was first more or less with Quell but as the months passed, Tak’s heart was now hers.  A thought did occur to her to convince Takeshi to stop the exhaustive search, but she was a woman of her word.  She’d yet to search other worlds and in the process try on other sleeves via needlecasting.  Sure she’d never been in another sleeve before, but she was willing to do it for her love.  Her only stipulation was the she be put into a woman’s body.

As for Kovach, he was thankful that Kristin harbored no ill will toward Quellcrist and to him.  She turned out to be his best friend, family and lover all in one.  They stayed with one another in the same bed every night if they could.  At times, Kristin departed for other cities to narrow their search radius more quickly while he worked leads on his end.  The sex was also off the hook since Kristin may look reserved but she was anything but that in bed.  Her kinks ranged all over the place and it was more than enough to own him and he had several sleeves and lives to experience this.  She never ceased to amaze him.

Distance and time away from each other made their hearts grow fonder for one another and that is how they knew they were lovers at the end of the day.  So much so that they acted like a normal married monogamous couple without the formality of being married in legal sense.  Even the whole police department knew it, even departments they had yet to visit.  Not that they showed PDA, they were always professional in public, but after work, like a switch, couldn’t get enough of one another.

Were labels needed?  No, all that mattered to both of them was that they had one another.

Takeshi still had a Meth contact of his, a fellow tech nerd work on restoring Elias’ stack.  Although Kristin had given up on him due to the nature of the program Rei used to erase then overwrite his backup, he hadn’t.  He still felt guilty for essentially stealing Ortega out from under him.  At times he’d watch her wake and right as their eyes met. She’d smile a certain way for her fallen lover.  It wasn’t for him.  She denied it but his Envoy training told him otherwise.  If Kristen could go all out in search of his lover Quell, he needed to return the same.  He just hoped that Rei’s virus missed something.

Kovach meditated often on where Quell fit into all of this and he didn’t know anymore.  The here and now mattered and if and when he found her stack, they’d all, Quellcrist, Kovach, and Kristin, cross that bridge together.

So there they were sprawled out in bed with the AC on high, sweaty, nude and panting away after some serious sex.

They had just finish packing up boxes and covering her furniture with linens ahead of their departure to Harland’s world when Kristin seduced him.

Kristin spoke to her watch, “Hawkeye?”

“Yes detective Ortega?” the robotic voice replied.

“Display current eligible sleeves I have chosen in Harlan’s world.”

“Oh course.”

With that a projection was cast on the ceiling of the room lining up a square 20 by 20 grid filled with face shots of women.

Kovach browsed them and opined, “Over half of these don’t have neuro-chem combat reflexes and training.”

“Ok pendejo,” Ortega teased with her more pronounced Spanish accent.  “You know Harlan’s world isn’t at war right now right?  No major civil unrest and half the homicide rate of Bay City, So I think I can choose whomever I want so long as they have significant combat experience.  Also I’m backed up right?”

“OK but I why settle?”

“Well,” Ortega answered but demurred, but then requested, “Hawkeye?  Display full length shots in an 8 by 2 grid”

There appeared her first top 8 choices almost large than life in their underwear which didn’t leave much to the imagination. 

“Which one to you like now?” Ortega smirked knowing his head would do into the gutter too.  He didn’t want to admit it but she knew how he ticked sexually.

“None,” He said matter of fact.  “Her, her and her are too fragile and twiggy.”

“But they’re fast and have combat experience, and one is in the armed forces.”

“They may be fast, and hit somewhat hard, but they won’t stand up to the punishment of taking a hit.   Everyone’s got a plan until they get hit.”

“What cup size do you think she is?” Kristin pointed out to a blonde.

Kovach just gave her a weird look like she was crazy.

She then jeered, “Envoy senses not work now?”

“36C or maybe D depending on band size, but again, you KNOW I hate it when you get hurt,” Takeshi mentioned with care stroking her hand.

“Hmmm, 36C is right I think, too bad they don’t have those stats here,” Kristin tilted her head in wonder.  “But I’m thinking about you too.”

Kovach chuckled, “I’d like you by my side first and foremost in COMBAT ok?”

“So you don’t like ANY of my picks?  I know you have a couple sleeve favs but how do you choose?” Kristin gave up.

“Well, as CTAC and even as Envoys, we had more limited choices and those sleeves were only fit for the task at hand and nothing more.  Hey, I even neededcasted in a woman too but she sure as hell kicked some ass.” Takeshi concluded but then had an idea.

“Hey Hawkeeye?” Kovach requested turning to talk in the direction of her watch.

“Yes Mr. Kovach?”

“Can you give me status of a specific sleeve that is possibly on ice if I gave you a serial number and not a name?”

“If it is in my database and I have access, yes.”

“OK” Kovach rubbed his chin, “Do a search on and near Harlan for a sleeve serial number, twenty Bravo, Tango, Five eight Gamma, Epsilon, zero zero, four Zulu Victor Yankee.”

After a couple seconds Hawkeye returned, “A match has been found but the database is asking for a clearance code to display exact status.”

“Try, gamma gamma six one five alpha Nevada omega one in all lower case,” Kovach offered.

“Displaying the sleeve now which is currently in storage.  Its location is on a freighter called Lindrest enroute to Harlan, 1.5 months out at present speed and trajectory.”

There Ortega observed an Asian woman appear ripped and built standing at about five foot three projected on the ceiling.  She was covered in some tattoos and it also had minor scarring of the sleeve probably due to combat.  She noted that no bio was listed for her and also this picture was atypical and not standard.  It had her entire nude body on display, but also had zoomed in pictures of her tattoos which meant something, at least to the sleeve owner or owners.  “Ummmmm where’s her bio?  I don’t even see a list of names of stacks this sleeve had before.”

Takeshi clarified, “She’s a sleeve primarily used by Kiko Tanaka.”

“Whoa, THE Kiko Tanaka?  The assassin?”  She was one of the most feared in that system in any form.    

“This was based off a clone of her original body to prevent Personality Frag that comes from casting into different sleeves all the time,” Kovach clarified.  “ALSO she is about your height and build which not only lessens the possibly of fragging, but you orient to the sleeve more quickly.

Ortega finally sat up in bed and stared at her closely and asked, “Neuro-chem?”

“No,” Kovach returned tersely as always.

“Served in the military?”

“No”

“Biologically enhanced?” Kristen stated grabbing for straws.

“Nope.”

“So WHY are you suggesting I use that sleeve which isn’t even on Harlan’s world?”

“She’s trained all her life to be the best in her field and this sleeve is a result of that.  You don’t need Neuro-chem or other enhancement if you’ve got it all already.” Kovach concluded sitting up and gesturing to the picture.  “She’s one hundred percent self-made, and THIS sleeve Kiko uses now is a copy of her when she was at the zenith of her abilities.”

“You know the scarring she has on her body could have been corrected for when they made the clone.” Ortega noted.

He nodded conceding, “True, but she claimed it builds character.”

“So tight kitty?” Ortega asked to tease him since Takeshi was use to HER body and sleeve.  Not only that, this sleeve being of what looked like Japanese descent was kind of flat chested.  Kovach seemed to gravitate towards well-endowed women.

“I wouldn’t know,” he said coolly but she did have a great ass.  “I did have an encounter with her though, this sleeve in particular.  THIS one almost killed me.”

“Oh yea?” Ortega just rolled with it.”  She thought about it then shifted gears, “Well them.  Can you tell me WHY Kiko would let you or me use this sleeve?  Kiko is still active by all my accounts.”

“This is one of several copies.  She’s not using it now and she owes me one.  I’ll ask her.” Kovach concluded getting up to get dressed.

“So where’s you sleeve?” Kristin flung her legs out of the bed on the other side to get dressed as well.  She needed new clothing since Kovach ripped it all off hours ago.

“On Harlan and district 5,” Kovach noted with a shrug but planned one step ahead.  “We be apart for 6 weeks but you can use that time to orient you with your new sleeve.  Also in the unlikely happenstance that you or the sleeve aren’t a fit for each other, you can needlecast back into your original body.”

Fully clothed now he hugged Kristin from behind who was choosing which boots to wear and murmured kissing her nape, “I taught you everything to know about resleeving and needlecasting, you’ll be fine.”

She cherished these moments.  The hard and tough Kovach had a heart and so sex wasn’t sex anymore, it was love.  The same love he was supposed to be giving to Quelcrest.  In a way even in her shadow, she was honored.

It turned out that although Kiko agreed, she wanted to meet Ortega in person.  She’d be present in another identical sleeve copy when the needlecast completed.  She was the Captain of that freighter after all.  It was odd that Kovach and Kiko only worked together formally on some Envoy and smuggling missions, so why did he trust her?  In any case, she’d find out.

* * *

_A/N: hmmmm - I guess no comments equals more plot less sex?_

 


End file.
